no, my caps lock is not stuck, thank you very much

The boy crew (made up of Paul and Luc) is outside working on the bedroom with rock music blasting and occasional saw sounds ripping through the yurt skin. Sophie is doing some art work over in her little art corner (okay, it’s a yurt, so no corners, um, her art pie-slice area zone thingy…?) and I’m sitting here trying to figure out my new novel’s plot. THIS NOVEL IS NOT COOPERATING AT ALL. There. I’ve said it. It had to be said. I’m sorry, but it had to be done. Cat is outta that fucking bag.

No, I’m not having my confidence shaken, not a bit, why do you ask? I mean, it isn’t as if last year’s novel didn’t TOTALLY RUN AGROUND AND DIE at the 200 page mark. It isn’t like it hasn’t, therefore, been YEARS since I started something new that I ACTUALLY FINISHED. Because if any of that were true, I can assure you, I would feel NO SHAME WHATSOEVER, and most certainly not wonder if my wave had crested, if my creativity had dried up, if I’d misplaced my ability in my other pants, if I would ever write another freaking novel ever in my entire freaking life, so there.

WHY is this being so difficult? Usually the first 100 pages just fly by. BUT NO. NOT THIS TIME.

NO, I’M NOT SHOUTING, WHY DO YOU ASK.

One of my old techniques out of this was, I recall, 1) watch a bunch of unrelated movies and/or 2) read a bunch of books (all from which to pilfer) and then 3) drink a bunch of coffee and/or 4) eat a bunch of chocolate, and then sequester myself in a quiet place with the computer and not come up for air until I have worked it out. But I’m not drinking coffee right now, trying to keep the chocolate to a minimum, and I have no time to watch movies or read. (Although I am trying to make my way through the 1000 pages of 1Q84, but it isn’t helping much. If I ever finish I’ll post a review, because it’s really an interesting novel of a kind I will never write because did you catch the part about the 1000 pages?)

Which leaves me with 5) journaling, otherwise known as “Whining copiously in long-hand with a fancy ink pen” and yes, it can be helpful. Doing same on a, um, blog post, is kind of similar. Some would say.

Anyway. Basically, Situation Normal here at the yurt. I hope you’re having a good week-end! Gotta go and try to actually accomplish something now, um, somehow.